CFA takes action agianst climbing student fees
Laura Martinez, staff writer

When the governor’s proposed budget goes into affect on July 1 CSU students may find themselves paying up to 8 percent more in undergraduate student fees and up to 10 percent more in graduate student fees. However, students and members of the California Faculty Association (CFA) are hoping to change that.

The CFA, which includes tenure-track faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches, is the bargaining representative for the CSU and is presently taking statewide action against the governor’s proposed budget. Regional rallies were held last Wednesday outside the governor’s offices in San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles urging the governor to increase state funding for the CSU and stop increasing student fees

“As it stands, the governor’s proposed budget doesn’t even begin to address the true needs of the CSU, its faculty and its students,” said CFA President John Travis in a press release from the CFA. “The foundation of this state’s economic and social success was built on the superiority of its public higher education system. With dwindling support, however, the CSU cannot continue to provide quality, affordable and accessible university for the people of this state.”

Over the past two year state funding for the CSU has been cut by over $500 million dollars, the equivalent to cutting seven of the CSU campuses. Due to these budget cuts more than 15,000 students were turned away from the CSU in 2004/05.

And if funding continues to be absent the CSU is look towards turning away thousands of more students in the coming years. Student fees have also steadily risen since 2002 cumulating in a 76 percent increase for undergraduates and a 106 percent increase for graduate students.

“They have raised student fees several times in the last two and a half years,” said CFA Communications Director Alice Sunshine. “And no one has any idea what this is doing to students.”

However, the CSU is aware what the increases in student fees and decrease in funding are doing to enrollment. Student enrollment in 2004/05 is at the lowest it has been since the 2001/02 school year. However, this decline has less to do with student demand and more to do with the CSU’s inability to accept eligible applicants.

California is presently looking at having the largest high school graduating class statewide. This mean an even larger number of applicants to the CSU then there has been in previous years.

But increases in student fees may also be hindering many California students from being able to afford a CSU education. “There are many current students that aren’t coming back because of the fee increase,” said Sunshine

According to a press release from the CFA, the governor’s proposed budget will in fact increase the state funding for the CSU by $100 million dollars, but members of the CFA feel the addition does little to make up for the cuts that have been made in the past. Due to previous cuts class sizes are growing while the number of faculty is decreasing causing professors to take on a larger workload.

In a statement released on April 27, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said the governor is actually planning on adding more than $200 million to the CSU budget for the 2005/06 academic year. However, according to the CFA about half of that amount is from the increase in student fees.